How future-proof is Rudolf Steiner’s work?

Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences examines Rudolf Steiner’s work on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his death.

On 30 March 2025, the 100th anniversary of the death of Rudolf Steiner will be commemorated. Steiner is known in particular as the founder of Anthroposophy. With an interdisciplinary program, Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences takes a nuanced look at Rudolf Steiner’s work.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Rudolf Steiner’s death, the lecture series “Future Impulses in Rudolf Steiner’s Work” will take place at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences from 10 March to 16 June 2025, critically examining Steiner’s work with regard to its future viability. The aim of the event is to question the relevance of Anthroposophy in current and future contexts. On a sound scholarly basis, the series explores where Steiner’s work remains socially relevant today and how his original impulses can be carried into the present and the future. For example, individual events address sustainable business practices and curative education as a starting point for inclusive social development. Each contribution is followed by a moderated discussion. The lecture series is open to the public and can be attended both on site and online.

Public symposium “Rudolf Steiner and Human Rights”

Alongside Rudolf Steiner’s sustainable reform ideas in education and innovations in agriculture and medicine, some aspects of his work are controversial today: accusations of irrationalism and racism are repeatedly raised, and his work is being researched in this regard. The university’s second campus, the Mannheim Study Center, explores this topic in depth with the public symposium “Rudolf Steiner and Human Rights”. It asks: What was Steiner’s position on human dignity and self-determination? On democracy? What did social justice, internationalism, and the capacity for peace mean to him? The symposium offers an opportunity for intellectual engagement as well as artistic activities.

Further Artistic Impulses

The program is complemented by a staged reading at Alanus University’s own theater venue in Alfter. In his project “Rudolf Steiner and the Woman Who Invented Him”, Prof. René Harder, head of the performART degree program and author of the script, combines fact with fiction by focusing his interest on a woman behind Steiner: Marie Steiner, née von Sivers. Who was this woman, about whom hardly anything is publicly known today? And how did she influence Steiner and his work? Biographical fragments from the Rudolf Steiner Archive in Dornach are interwoven with fictional elements. It could have happened this way, or something like it. Together with his students, Harder thus finds a new, feminist approach to the question of how men and their ideas can continue to have an impact to this day.

Events at a glance:

Future Impulses in Rudolf Steiner’s Work – Lecture Series on the 100th Anniversary of His Death
Event period: 10 March – 16 June 2025, every Monday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Location: Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Campus II, Villestr. 3, 53347 Alfter, Seminar Room 7 (on site: no registration required!)
Event organizers: Prof. Dr. Marcelo da Veiga and Prof. Dr. Jost Schieren
Registration for online participation

Symposium: Rudolf Steiner and Human Rights
Event period: 20 and 21 March 2025
Location: Alanus University, Mannheim Study Center, Zielstraße 28, 68169 Mannheim
Event organizers: Prof. Dr. Albert Schmelzer, Prof. Dr. Christian Tewes, Dr. Angelika Wiehl
Registration: symposium-menschenrechte@alanus.edu

Staged reading: Rudolf Steiner and the Woman Who Invented Him
Event period: 30.03.2025, 7:30 p.m. – 9:10 p.m.
Location: Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences – Courtyard Theater, Campus I – Johannishof
53447 Alfter
Artistic direction: Prof. René Harder
Tickets at the box office: €9 regular, €5 reduced, €2 internal university rate
Reservation: schauspiel-ticket@alanus.edu

Photo: Alanus University

Contact for press inquiries:
+49 (0)2222 9321-1944
presse@alanus.edu

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